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Dover (elevator)
Dover Corp. is an American-based company. The company manufactured passenger and freight elevators from 1955 to 1999 and still manufactures automotive lifts under the "Rotary Lifts" name. History Dover Corporation can trace its roots back to Rotary Lift, a manufacturer of automobile lifts that began in 1925. In 1937, Rotary Lift invented the modern hydraulic passenger elevator, which has become popular since; and rivals such as Otis, Montgomery, Haughton, Westinghouse, etc. began making hydraulic elevators. Rotary changed its name to Dover Corporation and split the company into two separate divisions: Rotary Lift, which manufactures automobile lifts, and Dover Elevator Division, which manufactured passenger and freight elevators. In 1999, Dover Corp. sold it's elevator division to the German-based Thyssen Elevator, and changing the name into ThyssenDover Elevator. However, Dover elevators saw little change as a result of this buyout; the same fixtures and cab designs continued to be used, and ThyssenDover elevators were very rarely labeled as such in the cab or any readily visible areas (they are normally labeled as Dover). As a result of this, ThyssenDover elevators are usually only distinguishable by their date of manufacture. In 2001, Thyssen merged with Krupp, forming ThyssenKrupp Elevator. This also marked the end of the Dover name in the elevator industry. Distributors Dover was unique in that they had many independent, local distributors that bought Dover equipment and sold/installed it, usually bearing both their name and Dover's name. These reached their peak in popularity in the late 1960's, which is when Dover began to absorb these distributors and begin installing elevators on a much wider scale. Some companies, such as Burlington Elevator (New York/New Jersey), were dissolved in the mid 1970's. Others, such as Security (New Jersey), Eastern (New England), and Miami (Florida), lasted into the 1980's or 1990's. Some, such as Marshall Elevator, lasted well into the ThyssenKrupp years. Fixtures Before Dover started manufacturing their own fixtures in 1967, they used GAL fixtures and custom panels. Their standard-issue fixtures by the late 1960's were black buttons with a white halo that lit up and a distinctive indicator with square segments that lit up for each floor. The following listing is of Dover-manufactured fixtures. *"1970's Black" (1967 - 1970's) - These fixtures had no known official name. These buttons were black with a white halo that lit up, similar to the GAL fixtures that they used immediately prior to these. These, however, have a distinctly smaller halo than the GAL fixtures. The floor indicator was similar to the GAL indicator that they used immediately prior, but the segments for the floors were spaced farther apart. This is dubbed the "chiclet indicator". *"1970's White" (1968 - late 1970's) - These fixtures had no known official name. These buttons were similar to the 1970's black buttons, except that they were white with a black halo, and the actual button lit up. The indicator is the same "chiclet indicator" from above. *Classic (mid 1970's - 1999, used by ThyssenDover and ThyssenKrupp through 2007) - These fixtures are similar in appearance to the 1970's white buttons (and the 1960's black buttons on special order), but the surface of the button is smoother and the button presses in less, giving somewhat of an illusion of a touch-sensitive fixture. Early on, the chiclet indicator was used, but Dover eventually moved to a digital/faux digital "alarm clock" indicator in the late 1970's, followed by a dot matrix/faux dot matrix indicator in the mid 1980s. 1990's Traditional put button labels on brailes off to the side of the button rather than printing the labels on the actual buttons. After 1999, the buttons were made by ThyssenDover, then by 2001, ThyssenKrupp. In 2007, ThyssenKrupp replaced the Classic line with a newer version named "Traditional". *Impulse (1983 - 1999, still used by ThyssenKrupp) - This is Dover's most common and distinct fixture line, and their first to adopt a modular design. It was still being manufactured and installed on a normal bases by ThyssenKrupp up until 2005, when Impulse was replaced with Aurora. However, it was still available with custom installs as of current day. Post-Dover Era ThyssenKrupp continued on making Dover's Oildraulic (their version of hydraulic) until October of 2012 when they discontinued the Oildraulic system. It was replaced with a new Endura system, that is supposed to use new eco-friendly hydraulic oil and is said to use the same basic system as Oildraulic. ThyssenKrupp continues to make traction elevators and has added M.R.L. elevators to their lineup. Worldwide operations Other than in the United States, Dover Corp. has many divisions located around the world, such as in Mexico, Australia, and other countries. In the United Kingdom, Dover elevators were distributed by Hammond & Champness from the early 1970s until 1999. Their elevators were branded as Hammond & Champness Lifts (later H+C Lifts). Asia Dover also had elevator divisions and 3rd party installers located in Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea, Taiwan and Japan. In Singapore, Dover elevators were distributed by Duford East Elevator Pty. Ltd., while in Malaysia they were distributed by Dover Elevator Sdn. Bhd., now the company manufactures its own elevator and escalator products. In South Korea, Dover elevators were distributed by Hyundai Elevator. Dover also exported its elevators to Australia, under it's distributor Australian Elevators Pty. Ltd. Notable Installations North America *Albuquerque Plaza office tower in Albuquerque, New Mexico *Hyatt Regency in Albuquerque, New Mexico *Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dallas, Texas *Paramount Building in Dallas, Texas *Blackburn Science Building at Murray State University in Murray, Kentucky *Renaissance Hotel in Nashville, TenesseeModernized by ThyssenKrupp in late-2000s. *Uptown Tower in Albuquerque, New Mexico Worldwide *Buildings in George Street, Sydney, Australia *East Coast Road, Singapore *Several buildings in Clarke Quay, Singapore *People's Park Centre, Singapore (1970s) - the office building elevators has been modded into Duford East elevators in 2009.Duford traction elevator at People's Park Centre (taken by justinpeng1998 *Liverpool Private Hospital, Liverpool, Sydney, Australia (1998)Dover in Liverpool Private Hospital, Sydney, AU (taken by Jaymie Treadwell) Trivia *In Korea, Dover elevators are distributed by Hyundai Elevator Co. Ltd.. Gallery Logos Screen Shot 2012-11-17 at 11.26.28 PM.png|The original Dover logo (1955-1968) Screen Shot 2012-11-17 at 9.29.41 PM.png|Second generation logo (1969-1988) Dover Elevator Logo.png|Third generation logo (1988-2001) Dover logo.jpg|Another 3rd generation Dover logo. See also *Automobile Rotary Lift Co. *Dover Elevator Fixtures Guide *ThyssenKrupp *Marshall Elevator *Hammond & Champness References External links *Official website *Hammond & Champness in Beno Lift Guide *Wikipedia article of Dover Corp. *Dover elevator information photos (provided by jimster586 on Flickr) Category:Companies Category:Defunct companies Category:Companies that have been acquired Category:American companies